Paulwell demands action amid claims St James criminals are fleeing to Corporate Area

The Opposition continues to knock the Government over its handling of crime, with the latest crusader, Phillip Paulwell, member of parliament for East Kingston and Port Royal, lamenting the flare-up of violence in the Corporate Area.

"They are spending literally hundreds of millions in the areas where they have the state of emergency and the zones of special operations (ZOSOs) and ignoring all other areas in Jamaica, and so we are seeing many of the criminals moving away from the areas where they have the state of emergency and going into other areas," Paulwell said at a constituency conference in South West St Andrew on Sunday.

He said residents have reported to him that strange men are coming into their communities and committing the crimes they have seen in recent months.

Paulwell argued that while the numbers were not noticeable some months ago, "they are increasing" amid the flare-up.

Speaking with The Gleaner after his address to the Comrades, Paulwell demanded that the Government reallocate resources for the adequate policing of the Corporate Area.

"It is clear to me that the Corporate Area has been deprived of physical and other resources. So much of the resources have been taken away and put elsewhere, and a lot of those criminals who they have locked down in Montego Bay and elsewhere are finding their way into the Corporate Area.

"I am suffering from it! So I am calling upon the Government to ensure that the security forces get enough resources at this time," he said.

Paulwell made it clear that he did not want a ZOSO or a state of public emergency for the affected areas.

"What we need is more police personnel being made available. They need to have more equipment and, as they used to do in the Rockfort area, have stationary posts," he said.